Marijuana

A former purchaser of Philips grow lamps, who used them to improve cannabis production, is suing the company for preventing him from buying their products, reports broadcaster NOS. Philips stopped supplying the lamps to the entrepreneur because it did not want to be involved with production of cannabis.

The police raided 55 grow shops this past month after the legislation change that criminalizes the preparatory acts for cannabis cultivation, AD reports. The police will continue to tackle those who trade in materials used for cannabis cultivation in the coming months.

Four people were wounded in a fire in a first-floor home on Witte de Withstraat in Amsterdam last night. The police arrested a 58 year old man and a 52 year old woman on suspicion of cannabis cultivation, AT5 reports.

The fire started in the house's kitchen around 20:15 last night. Among the wounded were the upstairs and downstairs neighbors and two police officers who were first on the scene. According to the fire department, the victims inhaled a lot of smoke. The two neighbors and one police officer were taken to the hospital for treatment.

The D66 wants to legalize cannabis farming. Member of Parliament Magda Brendsen is presenting a legislative proposal today which will allow pot farmers to get an exemption to grow cannabis under strict conditions.

Last year 4,676 hemp farms were broken up that were connected to energy theft, Netbeheer Nederland announced today on behalf of all the regional grid managers. Their figures show that fewer cannabis plantations that were stealing electricity were broken up, but that more energy was stolen (140 million kWh in 2013 to 147 million kWh in 2014).

A 44-year-old man from Rosmalen was arrested on Tuesday during a police raid on a massive marijuana plantation in Zaltbommel. The plantation consisted of 33,000 plants being grown in an office building located on Van Voordenpark.

It seems that a number of cities in the Netherlands will start with an experiment with controlled cannabis cultivation next year, despite the fact that Minister Ivo Opstelten of Security and Justice is still firmly opposed to the idea.

According to research into alcohol usage amongst teenagers aged between 11 and 16 years of age in The Netherlands, there appears to have occurred a "spectacular" shift over the last ten years, with the binge drinking trend seemingly remaining in the past, Het Parool reports.

According to German Authorities, a grow shop in The Hague's Mandarijnstraat was the epicenter of the biggest ever credit fraud case of The Netherlands, in which €30 million was stolen in one night, De Telegraaf reports.

Dozens of mayors in The Netherlands have come together to plead for a regulation of marijuana cultivation. They want to permit sale of the soft drug in coffeeshops, as well as the cultivation. In an interview with de Volkskrant, mayor Paul Depla of Heerlen outs hard criticism on the current cannabis policy in The Cabinet.

The PvdA in the Senate does not agree with Minister Ivo Opstelten's strict soft drugs policy, and will not cooperate on it. Senator Ter Horst wants the Minister to choose one region to test his idea of regulating and certifying marijuana cultivation for coffeeshops, an idea that the Minister has been against in favor of tackling criminality and nuisance instead.

Completely harmless, no dangerous substances, and in a variety of flavors, the e-joint is taking the European market by storm with the company behind the product rolling out 10,000 units daily, according to distributors E-Njoint B.V. Capitalizing on the success of the e-cigarette, the Delft based business has claimed to have invented the world’s first electronic joint though it is sold without using any THC, the psychoactive aspect of marijuana.

Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Utrecht consistently show up in the top ten cities for average drug use, according to a new study published today. The research looked at wastewater samples taken in 45 different cities or city districts between 2011 and 2013, with samples analyzed for cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines, MDMA (ecstasy) and THC from marijuana use. Samples were taken over a one-week period in each year.